Plenary sessions like “The Global Hindu Experience”, “Hindu Dharma and Its Promise for the 21st Century”, and “A Dharmic Approach to Mental Health” expanded the theme of education and advocacy, with discussions on how Hindu Americans are navigating modern challenges while rooted in Dharma.

One key breakout session was “Defining Hinduphobia on Campus” led by Dr. Indu Viswanathan, Director of Education at HUA. Dr. Viswanathan introduced her experience of growing up in the American education system and some of the nuanced subtleties of Hinduphobia that so many Hindu students in America face, often without being able to clearly define why they feel discriminated against. Dr. Viswanathan said, “The purpose of this initiative of Understanding Hinduphobia is to clear a path for young Hindu scholars to contribute.”

There is currently a strong negative reaction to Hindu joy from across the political spectrum, partially due to the subtle Hinduphobia that permeates American and European academia, media, and politics. Three key components of Hinduphobia are Stereotypes, Erasure, and Epistemic Injustice. Dr. Viswanathan walked through each with recent examples punctuated by an interaction with a student who said they hadn’t experienced it because they were a STEM major. “Did you ever learn about Hindu contributions to STEM?” Documenting Erasure is difficult to prove, but that is what the next Understanding Hinduphobia Conference will explore. Dr. Viswanathan is also planning to offer a course on Understanding Hinduphobia at HUA starting in January.

While navigating, explaining, and engaging the students in these tricky mechanisms that animate Hinduphobia, Dr. Viswanathan invited a representative from the Northwestern Yuva Chapter to share their experience. “They were basically saying none of us should exist.” The language used to argue that Hindu clubs shouldn’t be on campus “puja promotes Hindu fascism” reeks of ignorance, and is also an opportunity for education. While each chapter and campus has a unique dynamic, the Northwestern Student Senate may define Hinduphobia in their next session.

Dr. Viswanathan outlined what we can learn from other communities, what challenges we have within the community, and emphasized “It is about being effective, not about being right.”

The development of the Hindu ecosystem is going to take a lot of collaboration across Hindu institutions and requires intergenerational organizing. It is clear that Western academia lacks a Hindu perspective, and while Yuva can provide a Hindu presence on campus, it is going to take faculty, professors, researchers, and an institution like Hindu University of America giving intellectual-academic support for our community to be properly represented on campuses and in classrooms. To continue fostering a culture of collaboration and partnership, HUA is proud to offer Yuva Scholarships for Courses, Paid and Unpaid Internships, Work Letters for Optional Practical Training (OPT), and Faculty for the Speaker on Campus initiative.

With the success of this Summit, Hindu YUVA has solidified its role as a leading force in fostering collaboration and leadership among Hindu youth at universities across North America. Sankalp has set a new benchmark for engagement, paving the way for continued growth and unity across the campus life of Hindu student

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“The Indian caste system is perhaps the most extreme expression of a type of social organization that violates the most revered principles on which modern Western societies are based” (Stearns, et al. 24). This is the opening statement of a World History textbook passage on caste in India. With a self-righteous tone, this sentence indicts the entire Indian civilization and everyone associated with it, including innocent Hindu American students. The rest of the textbook pertaining to India employs bias by the commission to lay the blame for the inequities of the caste system entirely on the shoulders of Hindu civilization. It absolves the major Western colonizers, especially the British, of any blame in the current state of affairs. This is a pattern that repeats itself in other textbooks. However, history and Hindu scriptures paint an entirely different picture.

The Spanish and Portuguese origins of the word “caste” as “casta” are well known. What is less well-known are the European origins of birth-based caste, along with how Europeans imposed these concepts on their colonized peoples, as described by Sumit Guha in his online article. In addition, Hindu scriptures do not contain the word “casta” or any other derivative.

 Las Castas (The Castes), Anonymous.

The above painting was completed in the 18th century and depicts the 16 race-based castes at birth as defined and imposed by Spanish colonizers on the Natives of Mexico. This type of classification was devised prior to British interference with the indigenous social system of India. The idea of caste hierarchy being determined by proximity to the white race was first propagated by the Spanish and later implemented by the British in India. The subordinate status of Spanish women as compared to Spanish men can be concluded from the more limited marital options available to women, as shown in the painting.

At the time of the Spanish caste system’s development, Indian society was following a very different social order. Amongst the Vedas, which are the primary scriptures of Hinduism and are believed to hold true regardless of era or geography, the only kind of social structure that was mentioned pertained to the four “varnas.” The term “varna” referred to the four qualities or functions that were found in society: priests/scholars, rulers/administrators, merchants/farmers, and artisans/laborers. The Purusha Sukta contains the following hymn:

brā̠hma̠ṇō̎sya̠ mukha̍māsīt । bā̠hū rā̍ja̠nya̍ḥ kṛ̠taḥ ।
ū̠rū tada̍sya̠ yadvaiśya̍ḥ । pa̠dbhyāgṃ śū̠drō a̍jāyataḥ ॥

From His mouth came forth the Brahmins and from His arms were Rajanya made
From His thighs came the Vaishyas and His feet gave birth to Sudras.
(Rigveda 10.90.12)

Even though the above hymn is not referring to a hierarchy between the four varnas, the fallacy of a hierarchical varna system has gained widespread traction in today’s literature. In reality, the varnas represent the four parallel pillars of a holistic society. In Hindu thought, the entirety of existence is described as the manifestation of God, or Purusha. As God, or Purusha, is One, no part of Purusha can be considered higher or lower. Therefore, one varna is not considered higher or lower than another. Also worth noting is that Purusha is frequently taken to mean Lord Vishnu, who is oftentimes depicted in a reclining pose, with no part of his body higher or lower than the other. The hierarchy misconception can be refuted even further if one examines the next two verses from the Purusha Sukta in the Rig Veda:

cha̠ndramā̠ mana̍sō jā̠taḥ । chakṣō̠ḥ sūryō̍ ajāyata ।
mukhā̠dindra̍śchā̠gniścha̍ । prā̠ṇādvā̠yura̍jāyata ॥

nābhyā̍ āsīda̠ntari̍kṣam । śī̠rṣṇō dyauḥ sama̍vartata ।
pa̠dbhyāṃ bhūmi̠rdiśa̠ḥ śrōtrā̎t । tathā̍ lō̠kāgṃ a̍kalpayan ॥

From His mind the Moon was born, from His eyes was born the Sun

From His mouth, Indra and Agni, and from His life-breath was born Vayu

Space unfolds from His navel, the sky well-formed from His head

From His feet, the earth, and His ears the Quarters.

(Rigveda 10.90.13-14)

 If the Purusha Suktam referred to a hierarchy of the varnas, then, by the same logic, the Moon must be considered higher than the Sun, and space must be considered lower than the sky. Such nonsensical reasoning can be rejected, leading us to the conclusion that the Vedas do not recognize any sort of hierarchy in society. Instead, the varnas refer to psychological groupings of people based on their temperaments and qualities. These groupings achieve goals similar to that of today’s personality tests when they are used to predict what types of occupations may best suit a given individual. It is important to note that there are many examples of people having moved between varnas.

Another term that is native to Indian civilization and is mistakenly conflated with the caste system is “jati.” Unlike “varna,” the term “jati” is not found in Hindu scriptures. “Jati” typically refers to an endogamous community where a specific profession is often passed down in a hereditary fashion. Sharma quotes P.V. Kane in explaining how the jatis came into existence: “ …[jatis] arose from the unions of males of different varnas with women belonging to varnas differing from their own” (130). Sharma later calls out an important distinction between the traditional Indian concept of jati versus the modern Western misunderstanding of where jatis reside in the social fabric. In the traditional Indian view, jatis were formed outside of the traditional varnas. Jatis were formed to accommodate all of the different combinations of people in society that were derived from the original four varnas. The following figure depicts some of the many possible jatis that formed from the unions of the different varnas in succeeding generations:

Figure 1: Varna-Jati Relationship Prior to British Intervention

One can easily observe that over thousands of years, over many generations, and countless combinations resulting in thousands of different jatis, there was no way to create a definitive hierarchical order of jatis in pre-British Indian society. This indeed was the case, where the fluidity of movement between jatis and fluidity of jati status existed. Kane further describes this fluidity when he writes “Therefore, it must be admitted that the …social status of the several castes [ie. jatis] might have varied from country to country or from epoch to epoch…” (Sharma 130). Although there was jockeying for position within the larger society by the various jatis, there was no authority that dictated a jati’s social position. 

However, the situation drastically changed when the British gained power in India and they socially engineered the creation of the modern caste system. Sharma describes how the British administrators chose to think of the jatis as being contained within the varnas, as shown in the figure below:

Figure 2: Varna-Jati Relationship After British Intervention

Using the British methodology, each jati now had to understand itself in relation to the varnas. With a clear hierarchical structure, it was in each jati’s interest to be viewed as high as possible in the pyramid. Force-fitting the entirety of Indian society into a neat pyramid satisfied the British thirst for order and categorization, resulting in what they called the “caste system.” 

In their article, Walby and Haan describe how nineteenth-century Europeans felt a need to make sense of the world by classifying everything neatly into categories and then ordering them. Foucault proposed the creation of hierarchical taxonomies that would allow scholars to produce “truth,” or to reach conclusions about populations under study. 

The problem was that in India, many British census takers and data compilers ran into great difficulties when it came to reaching a neatly categorized and hierarchical view of nationwide caste data. During the British censuses of India, “…many people were reported to not know their caste, to claim they had no caste, or to provide a caste name to enumerators [census takers] when they should not have had one (as was the case for Christians and Muslims)” (Walby & Haan 304). They further describe that one of the ways for census takers to overcome these difficulties was “often through fudging the process” (304). Another commonly employed tactic, of which there is much evidence, is that castes were frequently fabricated. By doing so, British census takers and administrators not only created a new pecking order for the vast diversity of jatis in Indian society, but they also fossilized this pecking order in official government publications with the completion of each census. 

What before British rule had been an informal and fluid system of families and clans moving between different varnas and even jatis was hardened, with social hierarchy given official sanction by the colonizers. There are countless examples of jatis appealing to British officials to reassign their community to a higher status. These officials, and their census publications, became the ultimate judge of a jati’s stature in society.

ML Middleton, Superintendent of the Government of India, wrote the following in the 1911 census: “…we pigeon-holed everyone by castes and if we could not find a true caste for them labeled them with the name of a hereditary occupation…we are largely responsible for the [caste] system which we deplore.” (343)

Middleton further went on to speculate as to what may have happened if the British had not extensively tinkered with the indigenous system: “Left to themselves, such castes…would rapidly disappear and no one would suffer. The large number of people who have refused to record any caste at this census is a sign of progress and the breaking of customary bonds..[the British] Government’s passion for labels and pigeon-holes has led to a crystallization of the caste system, which, except amongst the aristocratic castes was really very fluid under indigenous rule” (343).

Aside from the European preoccupation with hierarchical categorization, there was another phenomenon at work that was even more pernicious. It was the nineteenth-century theory of race, which used pseudo-science in the form of anthropometric measurements to pin each race into a hierarchical order. Europeans considered the white race to be the most superior of the races, and they used this racial theory to justify the colonization and exploitation of other races around the world. In regards to the caste system, H.H. Risley reformulated caste along racial lines when he architected the 1901 Census of India. “Risley argued that caste was a system of social precedence deriving from a race-based hierarchy of social life” (Carlan). Risley used two anthropometric ratios to help him determine his social hierarchy based on race. The first was the nasal index, which was the ratio of the height to the width of the nose. The second was the cephalic index, which was the ratio of the length to the width of the head.

The British concoction of the modern caste system in India would change India forever, dividing its population against itself. Artificial racial boundaries of “Aryan” (ie. light-skinned) and “Dravidian” (ie. dark-skinned) were imposed on the native population, creating and shaping political movements that otherwise would never have existed. In addition to these effects, the modern caste system provided the British with yet another tool: the ability to deride Hinduism as the source of caste inequality and to position Christianity as a better alternative. Even though the caste system exists in other Indian religious communities such as Sikhism, Jainism, Christianity, and Islam, the British successfully perpetrated the “casteism in Hinduism” trope throughout the West, leaving this as another marker of their colonial legacy.

That is why in Social Studies textbooks today, the lens of caste is simplistically used to explain almost everything about Hinduism and Indian history: “What gave Indian civilization a recognizable identity and character was…a unique social organization, the caste system” (Strayer and Nelson 125). The same book later claims that the caste system prevented pan-India empires from surviving for any length of time. The book’s obsession with caste is evident throughout its coverage of India and Hinduism, eventually tying a person’s caste to their spiritual progress. The authors neglect to discuss any Hindu saints who belonged to the so-called lower castes. And not once is there any mention of the British intervention that produced the caste system as we know it today.

As another example, another textbook states that “…the caste system continued to serve as the most powerful organizing feature of Indian society” (Bentley, et al 318). A few pages later, this statement appears: “Caste distinctions first became prominent in northern India following [white] Aryan migrations into the subcontinent” (323). Thus, the book successfully promotes the superimposition of race onto caste, as envisioned by Risley and others over a hundred years ago. The false association between the so-called Aryans, Hinduism, and the caste system is something that is still pervasive in modern textbooks, an anachronism that has managed to outlive British rule in India.

        Books such as these are not purveyors of World History or World Cultures. They are purveyors of Hinduphobia.

Textbooks such as these come with real-world consequences. When the caste system is falsely tied to Hinduism as one of its defining characteristics, entire generations of Americans, both Hindus, and non-Hindus, walk out of the classroom with ingrained prejudices. The Hindu American Foundation published a report concluding that there is “a correlation between the intensity with which a school’s Hinduism unit focuses on caste and the likelihood both that the child will perceive that Hinduism has been taught negatively and that she/he will be bullied for her/his faith…” (HAF 6). The report goes on to suggest that when “an intense curricular focus on caste creates and reinforces a view of Hindu beliefs as uniquely repellant, it is the curriculum itself that needs to be reexamined” (6).

In conclusion, we find the lived reality of Hindu Americans to be at odds with the artificial reality found in Social Studies textbooks. No Hindu temple teaches its congregation about caste or any kind of social hierarchy. Many Hindu American children are not even aware of their caste affiliation. The colonial-era narrative that persists to this day in American textbooks insists that the hierarchical caste system is a fundamental part of Hinduism. This essay has attempted to point out that nothing could be further from the truth. With that being said, caste-based discrimination found in all of the religious communities in India must be eliminated because it is a social evil. When it comes to Hinduism, there is no room for this discrimination, or for any type of discrimination, in a faith community that recognizes each human being as divine. It is time for the narrative around caste and Hinduism to be rectified, especially in Social Studies textbooks for American students. 

This article is an adaptation of a term paper required for the course “Reconstructing Hindu History: The Commissions,” taught by Dr. Raj Vedam.

References

Anonymous. Las Castas. 19th century. Museo Nacional del Virreinato, Tepotzotlán, Mexico. Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casta. Accessed 6 June 2021.

Bentley, Jerry H., et al. Traditions & Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past, UPDATED AP Edition. 6^th ed., McGraw Hill, 2020.

Carlan, Hannah. “Sir Herbert Hope Risley.” southasia.ucla.edu/history-politics/colonialepistemologies/sir-  herbert-hope-risley/. Accessed 8 June 2021.

Guha, Sumit. “What Did Europeans Contribute to the Caste System in India?” www.jhiblog.org/2018/05/30/what-did-europeans-contribute-to-the-caste-system-in-india. Accessed 6 June 2021.

Hindu American Foundation. “Caste in the Curriculum & the Bullying of Hindu Students: Secondary Analysis of Survey Results.” www.hinduamerican.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HAFN_16_018- CasteInCurriculumReport_r2_0.pdf. Accessed 5 June 2021.

Middleton, L. and S.M. Jacob. Census of India, 1921. Volume XV, Punjab, and Delhi, Part 1. Civil
and Military – Gazette, 1923.

Sharma, Arvind. The Ruler’s Gaze: A Study of British Rule over India from a Saidian Perspective. HarperCollins Publishers India, 2017.

Stearns, Peter N., et al. World Civilizations: The Global Experience Since 1200, AP Edition. 8^th ed., Pearson, 2020. 

Strayer, Robert W., and Eric W. Nelson. Ways of the World: A Brief Global History with Sources. 4^th ed., Bedford, Freeman & Worth, 2020.

Walby, Kevin and Michael Haan. “Caste Confusion and Census Enumeration in Colonial India, 1871–1921.”  Histoire Sociale/Social History, vol. 45, no. 90, 2012, pp. 301–318., doi:10.1353/his.2012.0026.

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Our Much Loved Faculty Member, Shri Sree Aswath ji Honored

Shri Sree Aswath ji, our valued member of our faculty at the Continuing Education division, was bestowed with the prestigious title of ‘An Outstanding Ohioan’ from the Ohio State Representatives in celebration of his 80th Birthday falling on December 25, 2023.

The letter of special recognition, bearing the seal and signature of the Representative as well as the Speaker of the House, highlighted his numerous contributions to the world around him. It commended his infectious energy and enthusiasm that he generously shared with his family, friends and community, enriching the lives of those he came in touch with. His diligent and painstaking efforts to give back to his community were acknowledged and his accomplishments were praised. This special recognition was graciously sponsored by Ohio Representative Anita Somani.

Shri Sree Aswath ji is a much loved and respected faculty member of HUA, and teaches a popular certificate level course on Hindu rituals titled ‘Introduction to the Vedic Ritual’. Having imbibed Sanskrit learning since childhood from his grandfather Shri M.S.S. Shastry, who was a vidyvān (expert) at the Mysore Court, Shri Aswath ji furthered his studies with nine years of formal training in Vedas under Ācharya Professor Anantakrishna of Bangalore Sanskrit College. With his profound knowledge of Shastras, Aswath ji captivates his students with meticulous details that cannot be easily found elsewhere. Since 1995, Sri. Sree Aswath has been teaching Veda and Vedānta to students in the US, while also conducting weekly evening sessions on Hindu scriptures in Sanskrit for various groups in Columbus, OH.

In a recent milestone, the Hindu University of America celebrated its fifth anniversary, and on March 28, 2024, Shri Sree Aswath ji presided as the priest of the homa and puja at the inauguration ceremony of HUA’s new office space at Pine Lake Retreat in Groveland, Florida. He conducted the event with profundity, guiding and captivating the audience with his meticulous and beautiful explanations of the shlokas, leaving a lasting impression on the staff, the members of the board and other attendees, showcasing his depth of knowledge and vast experience.

The HUA family extends a warm and hearty congratulations to Shri Sree Aswath ji for this well-deserved honor.

The post Our Faculty Shri Sree Aswath ji Recognized appeared first on Hindu University of America.

The Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT), which subsequently morphed into the Aryan Migration Theory (AMT) due to compelling evidence negating the invasion hypothesis has also run against factual headwinds (Danino 2016). These developments, however, have not prevented the misinterpretation and eventual misuse in political discourse of a convenient narrative for the supposedly marginalized groups to rise up, and reject the invaders and their ideologies in order to establish a secular society free from “Aryan influences.” This is also the prevailing leftist and Marxist-influenced academic view and it remains a dominant narrative in Indian schools even today: “As such, it has long been used to neatly divide India into dichotomous categories such as North and South Indians, Aryans and Dravidians, the fair-skinned and the dark-skinned, ‘high castes’ and ‘Dalits’, all of these binaries representing the classic division between the privileged and the oppressed.” (Chavda 2017).

However, evidence-based reinterpretations are increasingly providing an alternative and increasingly authentic version of Indian or Hindu history, and more importantly, a new narrative on South India or Tamil Nadu itself. There is a compelling body of archaeological, epigraphy, and literary evidence that instead suggests a concurrent, not separate, development of the South Indian/Tamil culture along with the original and indigenous Vedic culture. The notion of ‘Aryan vs. Dravidian’ is now becoming “speculative at best and resides in the domain of conjecture.” (TCP 2016).

Pioneering work by Dr. Ramachandran Nagaswamy, a historian, epigraphist who has specialized in deciphering and interpreting inscriptions in Tamil and Sanskrit from artifacts throughout Tamil Nadu, has helped amplify this relatively recent revision of history (TAA 2020). His lifelong work has led to the creation of verifiable data and supporting evidence that distills a realistic and credible version of history that questions and even negates the prevailing views about Tamil Nadu, its history, and its culture. This article attempts to provide a brief summary of Dr. Nagaswamy’s book (Nagaswamy 2016) based on published reviews as well as video materials available online (Nagaswamy 2020).

Dr. Nagaswamy’s book, Tamil Nadu, the Land of the Vedas, is a scholarly work presented in twenty chapters covering Vedic life, devotional, philosophical, and worldly literature, inscriptions, shastras, and records of kings and their administrations. It establishes that Tamil is one of the oldest classical and regional languages of India with a history that can be traced to the 2nd or 3rd century BCE. Subsequent to that period, Tamil has continued its development along dialectical and cultural lines.

Dr. Nagaswamy shows how the Vedas served as the principal basis for the administrations of the various rulers and kings in Tamil Nadu. Placing emphasis on native knowledge and daily life, the administrators blended both Tamil and Sanskritic values and traditions. This perspective, verifiable by available documents, challenges the prevailing myth that Tamil Nadu developed independently from the rest of India.

The book uses a wide variety of evidence such as written records from administrations under the Ceraņ, Cōḻaņ, Pallavā, and Pāṇḍya kings. The author establishes that these rulers traced their genealogies to well-known names in the Mahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa. The Cerās considered themselves descendants of the Yādavas (to which Śrī Kṛṣṇa belongs), the Cholās descendants of Rāma, Pallavās descendants of Droṇa, and Pāṇḍyās descendants of Arjuna. This line of associations suggests linkages to the concurrent lives of the South Indian rulers to the Mahābhārata protagonists who were based in the northern part of the land.

Of particular importance is that Dr. Nagaswamy relies on records from the Sangam period, which is considered to be between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE. It has been named after the Sangam academies which flourished during that era under the royal patronage of the Pāṇḍya kings of Madurai. At these sangams, scholars gathered to discuss and debate literary works. Major contributions to Tamil literature from this period include Tolkāppiyam, Eṭṭuttokai, Pattuppāṭṭu, Patiṉeṇkīḻkaṇakku, Cilappatiāram and Maṇimekalai (Dikshitar 1941).

Dr. Nagaswamy’s book further explains that the kings under the four dynasties mentioned above not only studied the Vedas and the Dharmaśātras but also performed sacrifices and rituals as prescribed in the Vedas (presumably the Yajur Veda) and made generous contributions for the upholding of Vedic and Dharmic values. Records contain references to specific yagnas such as Hiraṇya-garbha, Tulābhāra, Gosahasra, Bahusuvarṇa, Rājasūya, and Aśvamedha.

In addition, the society under the South Indian dynasties was organized according to the principles of Vedic dharma. The Brahmaṇas helped the kings in judicial and financial administrations. The Vanigas (Vaiśyas) oversaw trade, and the vellalas developed agriculture and were the principal government revenue administrators. Interestingly, the Brahmanas, Kṣatriyas, Vanigas, vellalas studied the Vedas and nearly 80% of the population studied the functional/practical aspects of the Vedas. In other words, South Indian people lived a life based on Vedic frameworks. The Patiṟṟuppattu poems point out that the ancient Tamil kings studied Vedas, Vedāṅga, and performed daily Vedic rites mentioned as Pañcamahāyagña in Vedic tradition. Avvaiyār, the greatest poet of the Sangam age, praises the three crowned Tamil kings for performing Vedic sacrifices. In birth, marriage, and death rites, the ancient Tamils followed Vedic injunctions. The kings appointed Vedic scholars as their chief ministers and presented them with lands called “Brahmadeyas.” Trade, both internal and international, was conducted by the Vanigas and there are several references in the records from the kingdoms about transactions with the Romans. The Cholās recognized that the country was mainly based on a rural economy and therefore entrusted the revenue administration of the village to the Muvendavelars—the officers who belonged to the agrarian family of the Vellalas. The Cholā kings established several Nallur as exclusive cultivators’ villages in addition to Brahmadeyas of Vedic Brāhmaṇas. It is also seen that it was the duty of the Brāhmaṇas to interpret the law for the benefit of the villagers (Nagaswamy 2016, 2020).

According to a book review published in The Hindu newspaper, “[w]ars in ancient Tamil country were fought according to tenets of the Dharma Śāstra, where battles with armies happened only as a last resort when individual combat failed. Moving to bhakti literature, the chapters look in detail as to how the inner message of the Shaivite and Vaishnavaite hymns is consonant with the message of the Upanishads that self-realization in thought and deed is the ultimate form of reaching freedom from this endless cycle of births and deaths” (Hindu 2017).

From a performing arts perspective, Tamil literature includes music and dance traditions that are based on Bharata’s Nāṭya Śāstra. It is also suggested that the Tamil grammar work Tolkāppiyam is a derivative of Nāṭya Śāstra. One of the most important of all Tamil works, the Tirukkuṟaḷ composed by Thiruvalluvar, has been assigned to the 1st century BCE period. This pioneering work is virtually a reflection of Dharmaśāstras. In a separate book (Nagaswamy 2017), Dr. Nagaswamy demonstrates that Thirukkural is derived from the Hindu Vedic tradition: the former imitates the latter’s śāstras as well as its fundamental outlook of Dharmic life including artha, kāma, dharma, and mokṣaa. Thiruvalluvar also talks about the pañcamahāyajña—the five daily offerings every human must make—that are also mentioned in the Dharmaśāstras. Reverence to ancestors through worship was also very popular and the various rituals and practices were performed according to Vedic principles.

In a separate and concurrent work by David Shulman (Shulman 2016), the Tamil language and the associated culture has been found to have had deep roots in south India and certainly the case before the AIT narratives were proposed. Recounting a story about the great sage Agastyar, who is the author of the first formal text on Tamil grammar, Agattiyam, that served the early poets in the Sangam period, Śiva himself endowed Agastyar with knowledge of Tamil grammar before he was sent southward to balance the earth.

Dr. Nagaswamy’s extensive findings fundamentally challenge the prevailing but increasingly questionable framework that asserts the development of an independent non-Bhāratīya Dravidian culture in Tamil Nadu. Dr. Nagaswamy has presented compelling evidence based on the epigraphical wealth of Tamil Nadu to show that the region has always been the Land of the Vedas. With this type of deep research and re-interpretation possible today, it is high time Hindu historical research evolves to re-interpret our collective history first and then re-educate the world based on evidence.

This article is an adaptation of a term paper submitted for the course “Reconstructing Hindu History: The Omissions,” taught by Dr. Raj Vedam.

References

Chavda, Abhijit., The Aryan Invasion Myth: How 21st Century Science Debunks 19th Century Indology. https://indianinterest.com/history/the-aryan-invasion-myth-how-21st-century-science-debunks-19th-century-indology/debunks-19th-century-indology/. Accessed May 2017.

Danino, M., Aryans and the Indus Civilization. In A Companion to South Asia in the Past (eds G.R. Schug and S.R. Walimbe). https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119055280.ch13. 2016

Dikshitar, V. R. Ramachandra, and V. R. Ramchandra Dikshitar. “THE SANGAM AGE.” Proceedings of the Indian History Congress 5 (1941): 152–61. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44304708.

Nagaswamy, R., Tamil Nadu the Land of Vedas. Chennai: Tamil Arts Academy, 2016.

Nagaswamy, R., Tirukkural, An Abridgement of Sastras. Chennai: Tamil Arts Academy and Giri Trading Agency, 2017.

Nagaswamy, R., Tamil Nadu and the Vedas (By Padma Bhushan Dr. R. Nagaswami). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e49F52JOdwY. Accessed June 2020.

Shulman, David., Tamil. Cambridge, MA and London, England: Harvard University Press, 2016. https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674974678

Tamil Arts Academy (TAA). https://tamilartsacademy.com/aboutrn.html. Accessed January 2020.

Tamizh Cultural Portal (TCP). Tolkappiyar, Ilango, and Bharata. https://tamizhportal.org/2016/03/tolkappiyar-ilango-and-bharata-part-1-sivam-illaiyendral-sakthi-illai-sakthi-illaiyendral-sivam-illai/. Accessed March 2016.

The Hindu, Vedic route to the past. https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-fridayreview/Vedic-route-to-the-past/article14397341.ece1. fridayreview/Vedic-route-to-the-past/article14397341.ece1. May 2017.

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The challenge to western academia

It has been a full 30 years since India opened up out of Nehruvian socialism, “liberalized” its economy, and has seen a full generation accrue varied benefits, of being lifted levels above their largely poor or middle-class socio-economic struggles, while many have remained behind. We have seen many European and Asian countries rebound much quicker than India since World War II, so better techniques and policy options remain to be explored.

This “opening” has extended into the academic and journalistic spheres too, albeit at a slower rate. These challenges to the India narrative have contributed to the emergence of intellectuals in waves; we are merely carrying on, building further, establishing media and academic foundations. From the works of B. B. Lal, Ram Swarup and Sita Ram Goel, to several others that are still active including Meenakshi Jain; in this decade we are live witnesses to the pioneering efforts of Vishwa Adluri, Joydeep Bagchee and others. The social media space today naturally includes noise, but also has many quietly active and diligent researchers working with their own efforts and funds. While the work ahead is monumental, there is reason to be optimistic.

Rare but always present have been the challenges within academic circles, and this is where the researchers, the intellectuals, and the philosophers at institutions like HUA are faced with a critical responsibility to march on. Decades ago, it would have been a dream, but now it is a reality; the ability to engage and produce rigorous scholarly rebuttals, using the language of Indology, is ongoing, with plenty of conscientious western thinkers, such as Nicholas Kazanas, Michel Danino, and several others also joining to provide an India-centric rebuttal. It is our work to ensure that these are disseminated wider, not simply to those preferring the numbness of transient enjoyment in existence, but to the tide who understand the nature of righteous duty.

But what about the common people?

Like many in the last two generations, I, too, have been a beneficiary of a reviving India. What used to be an impossible dream, except for the few who managed to exit India with high qualifications and access, is now turning into a reality for many more. I have had work and travel opportunities that have taken me across Europe and North America, and have seen the “better life”, “the dream”; yet it is rootedness in India that is one of my accomplishments, despite a mild “lactification” (to use Fanon’s term).

It is not just the battles with false-indoctrinated “South Asian” bureau chiefs and academics, but also the commonality of existence in our more innocent encounters with today’s peoples of European descent, who are as human and curious and open as we are, when we are. In modern times, it is a relief to experience less of the jarring racialized and prejudiced interactions of the past, to the warmth and welcome, the curiosity to engage (not just to explore) more of India’s philosophical and visibly impressive offerings. And beyond that, the simplicity, a genuine normality of engagement.

No civilization should simply claim greatness for itself alone; all peoples across time and eternity have brought forth beautiful contributions and developments that override the unresolved horrors. With India, it is indeed a unique place: its visible lack of full recovery from inflicted brutalities have not masked its ancient philosophy, teachings, nor has it hidden what today’s India continues to offer. In my countless interactions, in Russia, the Baltics, and the Balkans, all the way to the western shores with many stops across Africa and Asia, human decency, mutual respect and genuine curiosity remains very much alive.

For these people, unaware of the required narrative change, and the overdue paradigm shifts that may take another generation or two, just engagement with the right values is always one of the steps. It is said that Dharma protects those who protect it, and it sees the world not for conquest, but as family. We are lucky indeed to be associated with these teachings of our ancestors, and commendable are those who live it, with visible benefits to others they meet. The consciousness, the humanity, among peoples of European descent, has never died, and that is a source of comfort and hope.

For among the people far removed from the corridors of power, it is the lived life, doing the right thing, even heroic acts and long-standing contributions, these are among the aims. The strength of family and community, the inner journey to self-discovery, all are done in their own way; it is with some gratitude that an Indian can say our Rishis and Gurus across millennia have left the world a great value system that reinforces the good, and refreshes itself with time. Sanatana.

A higher consciousness

Cruel and invented theories of race, of being, of conquest, the dark side, are never able to fully extinguish the pillars of higher consciousness. In the past, it may have been the more base-minded, the more criminal, the ignorant, and even the innocent that might have fallen for these ideas of superiority borne out of expansionist theologies and ideologies. Seeing poverty or simply different and unusual behavior in the previously colonized nations may have only reinforced those beliefs in some of the less conscientious or even innocent. The encounters would be with people who were hesitant, unsure, attempting to please or just trying to stay safe; the generations of our parents and grandparents, leave alone their forefathers, faced visible ignominies, and often bore it meekly, as habit.

What the common people (of the former colonizing nations) rarely encountered was pushback from a confident, humane and well-wishing non-Western native. The more well-intentioned European thinkers of the past were to be swallowed by the dominant narrative of being the ‘chosen people’, and would have been wise to not challenge it. However, there is a difference now; the critical mass of fellow humans of non-European descent, who can assert their true self without harm, is slowly and continually rising, albeit with additional complications. The morals of the victimizers, never fully extinguished, has compelled them to also look for answers, in themselves and through a search that has taken them far away from their homelands.

This is the opportunity for this generation to continue to build, to not stay silent, to not seek a quarrelsome connectedness. It must retain a spiritual connection while wielding a pen in this endeavor to reset the narrative. This must be continually attempted, even as opposing forces double down with newer and more malicious methods. There is hope. Let the truth prevail, for it is Satya that remains the unyielding pillar in the future paradigm.

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Academic studies of Hinduism is a necessity, as it can shape the current and future generations’ understanding and appraisal of Hinduism. Academia has larger scale influence and starts impacting human life at a younger formative age. Next to the institution of family, academia has the strongest influence given the amount of time a student spends there. Also bringing an insider’s perspective to Hindu academic studies allows for development of an alternate Hindu worldview paradigm, which helps position Hindu thought, equitably, along with other worldviews. The symbiotic relationship between insiders in academic and non-academic settings, in terms of replenishing the “Śraddha Capital” or the level of one’s sincerity, in the Hindu society, ought to be recognized.

NECESSITY FOR HINDU STUDIES IN ACADEMIC ENVIRONMENT

Introduction

Hinduism is a vast collection of several traditions. It is referred to, by many insiders, in the Hindu fold, as Sanāthana Dharma. The word Dharma has a multi-faceted import. For the purposes of this discussion, we can understand Dharma as a sustaining framework of universally beneficial mass of knowledge and traditions, that guides humanity towards felicity. Thus, Sanāthana Dharma can be freely translated as “Eternal Sustenance” – a framework, in which several mathas (religious traditions) and siddhāntas (well ascertained philosophical foundations) can thrive, while retaining mutual respect.

Problem Statement

If the parents of today’s youth are qualified “insiders” – i.e. well-informed proponents and adept practitioners of Dharma, then their children will have the benefit of receiving right Dharmic education and thus keeping their respective Dharmic traditions alive. But on the other hand, a growing mix of today’s families (Hindu or otherwise), is a product of Western-style education (which has intrinsic anti-Hindu bias, in varying degrees). Such parents are most likely disconnected with their Hindu roots or worse antagonistic to it! If this trend continues, the insider population will dwindle sooner than we are able to imagine!

This raises a serious question, what is the best way of communicating the Dharmic ideas and practices, from one generation to another? The ideas that are in Sanāthana Dharma, have the power to change the world for the better, but only if presented in a manner consistent with the understanding and the will of the human society. The ability to take an idea and reliably disseminate it needs an institution, which systematically bridges the gap between human understanding and will. Family, the most ancient institution available to us, is necessary but not sufficient (as discussed in the previous paragraph), especially when there is a need to operate at a large scale of outreach and influence.

Today the most reliable centers of learning about Sanāthana Dharma are the various āśrams and Gurus (for example  Sri Ramakrishna Mission). But the percentage of population accessing these traditional Gurus and ashrams is very small, in comparison to the regular school and college goers. Also, exposure to such Gurus and āśrams often happens very late in most people’s lives.  This means that the reliance on Academic institutions (schools, colleges, universities), to introduce Hinduism properly and fairly, at an early age, cannot be avoided.

Power and Influence of Academic Thinkers

Thinkers in academic settings – mainly researchers and professors, often form a very tiny fraction of the human population, in any country or society, but they are powerful enough to decide what ought to be studied by children, youth, and students in general. They influence many aspects of society – from school textbook content to government policies.

From India’s past (i.e. during British India) till date, we know that the academic environment and its output have been utilized as a tool, to create “intellectual sepoys”, out of the Indian society [1]. So clearly the ability of academia, to influence our society, popular discourse, and future generations, is time tested and proven fact. The question then is not whether Hinduism ought to be studied in an academic setting, but how to significantly increase the number of Hindu insiders, in academic Hindu studies.

Evolving Alternate Paradigm – Hindu World View

The argument so far in this essay was focused on the need for accurate representation, reliable communication, and broader outreach, as it relates to Hinduism and how this can be achieved, with the injection of insiders, into academic study of Hinduism. 

Now we will consider another strong motivator for academic study of Hinduism – namely leveraging the unique vantage point Sanaathana Dharma offers to researchers, to study non-Hindu world religions and systems of thought. As mentioned in section I, Sanāthana Dharma offers a framework for sustaining several mathas and siddhāntas, which can coexist and thrive, with abiding mutual respect. Their mutual respect is due to the mature understanding that finite human attempts at exploring the infinite, are bound to give rise to multiple expressions or approaches, along the way. This plural, inclusive, mature understanding is rooted in Vedas (or sacred revealed knowledge of the Hindus), which forms the bedrock of Sanāthana Dharma. 

The Vedas and Sanāthana Dharma also offer a non-dogmatic framework, encouraging inquiry and study, which can be directed towards studying different traditions and worldviews. This approach helps evolve a fresh alternate paradigm to studying different world systems of thought and religions, through a versatile Hindu lens. This kind of study in an academic environment will serve to highlight Hinduism’s unique credentials (suited to studying world thought systems) and also position the Hindu worldview, equitably, along with other existing world views. Such an effort will surely have universally beneficial – academic, cultural, and political ramifications. 

Śraddhā Capital

Śraddhā plays a key role in the insider’s approach to studying Hinduism. One of the key tenets of a person, being endowed with Śraddhā, is his or her, well-reasoned acceptance of Vedas as “Pramana” or reliable means of knowledge. This is usually achieved, after receiving valuable traditional insights from the Guru [2 – verse 25]. Now, this creates a unique situation, wherein, to introduce people endowed with Śraddhā a.k.a insiders, into academia, we need to draw from the “Sraddha capital”, in the society. Developing this “Śraddhā Capital ”, is a key prerequisite for evolving Hindu studies in an academic setting. This clearly shows the symbiotic relation between academic insiders and non-academic insiders of today (i.e. parents, traditional ashrams, and Gurus), which is instrumental to growing the insider voice and population. 

Conclusion

Investing into promoting the insider’s voice in the academic study of Hinduism is necessary, to (1) present a fair appraisal of Hinduism to current and future generations (2) develop an alternate, distinctly Hindu paradigm, of studying world religions and systems, and (3) thereby enriching the world. This whole process relies upon drawing from the “Śraddhā capital” in the Hindu society, which in long run, can be replenished by a growing level of insiders voice in academia.

References:

• Rajiv Malhotra, “Academic Hinduphobia: A critique of Wendy Doniger’s erotic school of Indology”, Voice of India, New Delhi, 2016
• Swami Madhavananda, “Vivekachudamani of Sri Sankaracharya”, Advaita Ashrama, Mayawati, 1944

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Friends of Hindu University of America – Bay Area hosted a HUA Awareness Gala on Saturday, April 22nd, 2023 at Falcon X Hall in Milpitas. Nearly 200 members of the Bay Area community attended the engaging and informative event

The gala featured a keynote address from Swami Paramatmananda Saraswati (visiting from Rajkot, India) who declared that “Hinduism is a vision of the truth” and made the case why HUA is an institution of great importance to the Hindu community at large. The Bay Area community also heard a distinguished panel discussion on the need for a University that strives to provide top notch academic experience with a Hindu Dharma perspective. The event concluded with a keynote address from HUA President Sri Kalyan Viswanathan about HUA, its current state of strong rejuvenation and a roadmap outlining vision for the University’s continued growth and development. Smt. Annapoorna Malyala, HUA student and Sri. Ankur Patel, Director of HUA Advancement, emceed the program.

From left to right during a panel discussion on the need for HUA: Dr. Kundan Singh, Smt. Savitha Nanjangud, Smt. Jyoti Yelagalawadi, and Sri Sree Iyer

Sri Kalyan Viswanathan, President of HUA said, “Following a successful Gala event in Houston in March, I am pleased to see a strong level of interest in and engagement with HUA in the Bay Area. The need for an academic institution that provides a platform for a distinctively Hindu Dharma oriented immersion in study leading to an effective engagement with the broader academia on equal footing has never been greater. With the blessing of our Acharyas from varied lineages and sampradayas and supported by a growing body of practicing Hindus committed to learning and teaching, HUA seeks to become the premier University for the benefit of current and future generations of Sanatanis.”

The event was hosted at Falcon X Hall, organized by the local Friends of HUA – Bay Area chapter, with excellent volunteer support from the local community.

You may support and participate in HUA’s mission by going to: http://hua.edu/BayArea

About Hindu University of America (HUA)

Hindu University of America was founded with the vision of promoting dialogue across disciplines, cultures and civilizations while enabling self-discovery, conscious evolution, and harmony. Its mission is to provide education in knowledge systems based in Hindu thought involving critical inquiry, ethics, and self-reflection. Committed to fostering the culture and traditions of Hindu Dharma in an atmosphere of academic excellence and freedom, it prepares students for service, leadership, and global engagement.

Since Oct 2019, more than 2600 students have taken courses at HUA and close to 75 students are currently enrolled in Master’s and Doctoral programs. HUA currently offers 15 different continuing education programs with over 150 courses taught by more than 70 faculty members. The motto of HUA is that Vidya or true Knowledge is that which liberates.

Established in 1989 and authorized by the Govt of Florida in 1993, HUA has been offering online courses since 2019 in various aspects of Hindu Dharma, tradition and culture. For more information, please visit www.hua.edu or contact +1-407-205-2118.

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The Hindu University of America family is proud to announce that the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), Government of India awarded HUA Professor Vishwa Adluri the “Distinguished Indologist Award” (2019) at a ceremony held at India House, the Consulate General of India, New York, on June 28, 2022. The award was instituted in 2015 during the First World Indology Conference and recognizes the outstanding contributions of “foreign scholars” to research and teaching in the field of Indian studies. (The conferring of the 2019 award was delayed due to the pandemic.) In addition to Dr. Vishwa Adluri, Shri Rajiv Malhotra also received the award for the year 2020.

Dr. Vishwa Adluri currently serves as a Core Doctoral Faculty at Hindu University of America, in addition to his teaching responsibilities at Hunter College, New York. He was honored by ICCR for a lifetime of distinguished service to the profession, publications that have changed the field of Indology, and the students whose careers he has championed. In felicitating Prof. Adluri, the Consul for Political, and Press, Information and Culture, Shri Vipul Dev, of the Indian Consulate, New York City, said “Along the way, he encountered tremendous obstacles as an Indian and as a classicist who dared to reclaim the intellectual heritage of India. You can imagine the resistance Professor Adluri faced when he tried to show that the Mahābhārata – which Western Indologists think was veritable chaos – was a sacred text. Let us all celebrate returning the itihāsa to its rightful place in Indian studies.”

Professor Adluri was recognized as the foremost scholar on the Mahābhārata and celebrated for his contributions to Western and Indian philosophy. He teaches a 6-course graduate level sequence called the Mahābhārata Certificate at Hindu University of America. It is a first such program in the world and seeks to unfold Maharishi Veda Vyasa’s entire itihāsa as the founding text of classical Hinduism: According to Dr. Adluri, in the Mahābhārata we find fully enunciated for the first time, central ideas of temple worship such as the theology of the Goddess, the Trimūrti, avatāra and the four vyūhas, and arcana. Indeed, the very name of India that is Bhārat, is derived from the text. Dr. Vishwa Adluri and his student, Dr. Joydeep Bagchee, wrote a critical analysis of German Indology, exposing German pretensions, passing off their racist and historicist speculations as somehow scientifically authoritative, in their monumental work titled “The Nay Science: A History of German Indology”. The year 2014, when this book was published must be remembered as significant, for multiple reasons, not the least of them being that German Indology will not be the same again, after this moment.

In his acceptance speech, Professor Adluri expressed gratitude to those who have taught, guided, and supported him along the way. “Throughout my life, I have believed that knowledge and the seeking of knowledge is the holiest of human endeavors and I thank God for blessing me with a life of study and for the grace of providing me with outstanding teachers.”

In his closing remarks, Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, President of the ICCR, noted that the critical responsibility of Indologists today is to communicate the full truth about the core idea of India, which he described as the core of Indology, in language that the global community understands.

Dr. Vishwa Adluri with MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe at the award ceremony on June 29th, 2022

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The first President of Hindu University of America and the founder-President of WAVES (World Association for Vedic Studies), Shri Bhudev Sharma, attained sadgati. Om shanti!

We are sad to inform, that Dr. Bhudev Sharma, the first appointed full-time President of HUA, has breathed his last in India on April 23, 2021, at the age of 82.

Bhudev ji, as he was popularly known, served as the President of HUA during 2001-2002 and remained a member of the Board of Directors for more than 10 years. During his presidency he chose to live on the campus of HUA, so that maximum attention could be given to the newly acquired campus of HUA.

Born on June 23, 1938 in Bijnor – U.P., India, Bhudev ji had a very rich career both professionally and as a devoted Hindu. An M.Sc. Ph.D. from Delhi University, he was a Professor of Mathematics from 1957-2002, and had taught at University of Delhi, University of West Indies, Trinidad, Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, USA, Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, USA, and JIIT, Noida. He has, on invitation, visited Canada, Germany, Russia, China, Japan, Brazil, France, Greece, Italy, England, Poland, and many more countries. He published over 160 research papers in international journals, authored 23 books, and guided 28 Ph.D. students who are in India, USA, Brazil, West Indies, and Canada.

Besides mathematics, Bhudev ji worked for Vedic/Indian studies and Hindi. He spent 9 years in Trinidad, where he was the founder and President of Bharatiya Association of the Caribbean; wrote the book ‘Videshi Hindi Primer’ for teaching Hindi via English medium in schools; introduced Hindi in schools of Trinidad; succeeded in creating a Hindi chair at University of the West Indies and founded of a strong body ‘HINDI NIDHI’ that still works for Hindi. During his 20 years stay in America, he incorporated the Hindu Educational And Religious Society of America, New Orleans, edited and published a quarterly Hindi magazine ‘Vishva Vivek; wrote ‘A Complete Book of Hindu Poojas, Bhajans, Stotras, and Arties’, widely used in Hindu temples and families in USA.

Bhudev ji was also the founder and President of the World Association for Vedic Studies (WAVES), USA, from 1996 to 2005, and under his inspiring leadership WAVES – USA organized International Conferences in 1996 (Atlanta), 1998 (Los Angeles), 2000 (New Jersey), 2002 (Dartmouth, Maryland). WAVES continues to be a major platform for publications on Vedic studies. He was also the chief editor of many proceedings of WAVES conferences during his tenure. He was the president of Hindu Educational & Religious Society of America (1991-2021); he edited the proceedings: ‘Revisiting Indus-Sarasvati Civilization & Ancient India’, ‘New Perspectives on Vedic and Ancient Indian Civilization, and ‘Contemporary Views on Indian Civilization’.

In India, he founded ‘Janki Prasad-Shanti Devi International School’ in his birth village – Bankpur, Bijnor, UP, affiliated to CBSE in 2009, and ‘Kusum Sharma International Women College’ in Bhoorbaral Meerut, affiliated to CCS University, Meerut in 2019. Bhudev ji also authored, ‘Ganitagya: Srinivas Ramanujan’ (in Hindi) and edited ‘Hindi Vishwa-Kosh’ for the Central Institute of Hindi of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, India.

Bhudev ji won several awards and honors for his work in promoting Vedic Studies and Hindi. In 2003 Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee (the then Prime Minister of India) conferred the Hindi Videsh Prasar Samman, constituted by UP Hindi Sansthan, Lucknow. He also received ‘Agastya Award’ of Mauritius Ramayan Centre, Mauritius; ‘Ved Ratna Honour of Vedic Cultural Awareness’ award by Indo-UK Intellectual Forum, London, UK. On December 11, 2017, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, the honorable President of India, felicitated him as the ‘Visionary EduLeader of India.’

His ex-colleague from WAVES, Shri Dhiru Shah ji, the current Treasurer, has this to say about his work style: “We worked together in organizing WAVES international conferences in the USA till he was President of WAVES. He was a great intellectual with deep knowledge of [the] Vedas. He was a dedicated, sincere, and hardworking person who took care of the minutest details including venue, meals, audio, guest speakers and publicity. Bhudevji also edited all the conference papers and got the proceeding books published in India. During the time he lived in Atlanta, we used to meet often and discuss how to expand the activities of WAVES in the USA, India and other countries. His passing away has left a great void amongst the WAVES community.”

His obituary in Sanskrit. 

The HUA family joins the WAVES community in offering its condolences to the wider Hindu community for the loss of this great soul. We pray that Bhudev ji’s ātma attains sadgati.

Om Shanti!

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Considering that there are so many facets to Hinduism, wouldn’t it suffice for one to practice one or more of them? If so, why is there a need to embark on an academic pursuit of the Sanatana Dharma?

I practice Hinduism; then why do I need to study Hinduism?

Many amongst us are keen believers of Hinduism and its philosophy – only, we express it in different ways. Some of us follow rituals and traditions; others focus on their Gods and places of worship; a few delve deep into scriptures and read them regularly; some are vocal about the role of Hinduism in today’s society; and some have embraced a certain community under the guidance of a Swami or a Guru. For many, Hinduism is purely the joy of celebrating festivals and holy days; for a few, it is a spiritual experience that leads them to dhyāna and dharma, and there are those who are very particular about their beliefs and practices.

Considering that there are so many facets to Hinduism, wouldn’t it suffice for one to practice one or more of them? If so, why is there a need to embark on an academic pursuit of the Vedas and Sanatana Dharma?

Just as all other aspects of practising Hinduism have their place in our lives, so does structured and supervised learning of the great tenets of this ancient religion. Imagine practising yoga without being formally trained in it – we are constantly at risk of injury or health risks because of incomplete understanding of the science, or because we have failed to learn the intricacies of each asana. While each asana comes with its own health benefits, there are clear guidelines about who can perform them, and when, and how they need to be performed. Hence the need for formal training and a guru.

The need to engage in an academic pursuit of Hinduism is equally important, for the following reasons:

1. The need to know: How is the ātman different from brahman? What does the Bhagavad Gīta tell us? What is the significance of vegetarianism in Hinduism? Why is yoga not an end in itself, but merely the means to the path of spiritual enlightenment? Why is the knowledge of Sanskrit paramount to understanding Hinduism better? What is the truth behind the much-maligned caste system that is attributed to Hinduism? Is the suffix of -ism justified when Hinduism is slotted with other world religions despite the fact that it is thousands of years older than any of them? There are many more questions to which we need the answers. We need to know, because it is this knowledge that will propel us on our spiritual journey. And this knowledge cannot be obtained by casual research on the internet. It takes an academic resolve to explore, study, introspect and find these answers. It takes the guidance of the experts who become our gurus in this journey.
   
2. The need to lead: Many of us follow or practice certain aspects of Hinduism because we were initiated into it by our elders, and we obeyed them unquestioningly. However, when it comes to encouraging our next generation to follow in our footsteps, we need to be able to address their questions and satisfy their need to understand before they accept. How many of us can put our hands up to claim that we know the nuances of Hinduism, what they mean, why they must be practised and how they benefit us? Contrary to popular Western belief, every aspect of Hinduism, be it tradition or practice, belief or worship, is built on the strong foundation of a rationale. Everything can be explained, but only if we have the answers. That can happen only when we open ourselves to learning and being guided through an exercise that broadens our horizons of what we know about Hinduism. An academic study makes this exercise possible.  
   
3. The need to uphold: Hinduism has been subjected to a long, endless phase of discrimination, because of its ‘majority status’ in India and because of misconceived notions about it in the West, resulting in it being called polytheistic, idolatrous and pagan. This has resulted in a dilution of its core values amongst a majority of Hindus, who have been deviating from its original path of spirituality and instead have been choosing the hybrid route dictated by Western practices. There is a long-standing need to clear the fog that has obfuscated this path and show the way for those Hindus who have been led to believe that their religion has riddled society with discrimination and superstition, which is again, a colonial narrative that needs to be disproved. This can be done only by a detailed study of Hinduism and acquiring Vedic wisdom. Only an academic pursuit can help fulfil this objective.
   
4. The need to protect: When the colonial powers left India, they unfortunately left behind a legion of sceptics – Hindus who were critical of their own religion. Rather than question the beliefs, practices and ancient scriptures in an attempt to seek answers, they ended up questioning their religion more to voice their disagreements and flaunt their Western mindset. This continues to this day with the growing liberal voices that have been indoctrinated into the colonial perspective of believing that the West is the ultimate source of knowledge and authority and that everything in the world must meet their acceptance to exist.
   
5. The need to correct: For centuries, the written word on Hinduism has mostly come from the pen of the outsider. Theirs is deemed to be ‘more objective’ and their interpretation of Hinduism is upheld as the world view, which is considered ‘more informed’ and more ‘in line with’ the colonial narrative that has been forced on us. If we need to respond and offer the right narrative, which is the insider’s perspective, we need to be better equipped to do so. That requires an in-depth knowledge of our own past, our ethos, philosophies and our scriptures. It also requires a working knowledge of the wonderful language in which all our scriptures have been presented to us – Sanskrit. A casual reading or internet research wouldn’t suffice. Chances are, such endeavours may lead us back to the colonial perspectives that may appear as search results. Or we may end up reading Westernized versions of our epics because we choose to study them in English. That is why we need to undertake a formal academic journey into Hinduism.

There could be many more reasons why one needs to undertake an academic study of Hinduism to discover various aspects of it. And there is one place of learning that nurtures such studies, offering several courses at various levels to both entrants and experts.

This could be the opportunity you have been looking for – to find the answers, to set right what’s gone wrong, and to reinstall the dormant values in future generations. An entire world of Vedic wisdom awaits, to be explored, revered and understood. All it takes to begin this fascinating journey is for you to get in touch with us.

So, when is the best time to start? Now! And where does one begin? Right here!

Cover Image created in Word Art by JS.

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